


Sometimes Nothing Goes Right

by Merkey666



Series: High School Au [4]
Category: Fall Out Boy, My Chemical Romance, Panic! at the Disco, Twenty One Pilots
Genre: Break Up, M/M, Plot Twists
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-04-10
Updated: 2017-04-10
Packaged: 2018-10-17 03:09:55
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 8,379
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10585191
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Merkey666/pseuds/Merkey666
Summary: Ryan dumped Brendon.Chaos. There's quite the snafu over it, and sometimes feelings need to be hurt in order to get the damn truth out. Not necessarily as sad as you might think.





	

**Author's Note:**

> I'm rlly hecking sorry this took so long
> 
> did i only include half the characters because this is one big mess and i Cannot Contain All Of Them?? yeah prolly
> 
> anyway tell me what you think!! thx

Something bad was happening, Lindsey thought. With a phone in one hand that had one pair of headphones plugged into it and a computer in her other, with a second set of headphones plugged in it, she scuffled to her room and kicked the door shut with her foot. There was a bowl of cereal precarious balanced on her laptop and she did not feel like scavenging up enough money for a replacement. Her balance held out long enough for her to gently set down both the laptop and the cereal and return to her Instagram feed. 

The thing was, Lindsey didn’t know what bad thing was happening. It could’ve been a number of things, whether a new test was being added, their sports ball team was being taken out of the league for some lame reason, or whatever else that could’ve put up such a fluster on such a fine Sunday evening. She texted multiple people as she spooned Cinnamon Toast Crunch into her jaws, yet no one seemed willing to give more than a half-assed reply. It was like one of those situations where there was a new meme and no one would explain it to you. 

Lindsey did not like it one bit. 

She figured there was only one way to get the answers she was looking for, and that was to go to the source, but even he wasn’t picking up. It wasn’t that, she realized upon further inspection, Brendon was ignoring her calls! In anger, Lindsey dialed up Dallon who wouldn’t dare miss her call. He picked up and was instantly talking before Lindsey could even register the note of worry in his voice.

“Lindsey, I can’t talk right now. There’s a big shit storm and if you wouldn’t mind gossiping with someone else-“

“I called you because I don’t know what’s going on! Will you please just explain? Quickly?” she yelped in exasperation. Dallon paused for a moment, taking in that Lindsey did not know what was going on either and that was quite a shocker for him. Lindsey could hear the phone shuffling around for a second as he repositioned.

“I’m not sure how to tell you this, because I don’t know a whole lot myself right now, but from what I’m being told…” he sighed, and Lindsey had nearly bitten her nail off at that point. “Ryan dumped Brendon.” She choked on her cereal. 

“HE-“

“Gotta go, Brendon’s calling me back. He was crying last time, so I better take it. Talk to you later.” And Dallon hung up the phone. With the reaction time of an elder, Lindsey fell out of her chair and successfully poured her cereal all over the floor. It had barely been two months since Gerard bitched the biggest bitch ever and she was not prepared for a second coming. 

Her evening was completely ruined by this news, to the point of hysteria. When she finally passed out around two in the morning, she had no more information than she’d begun with and her self esteem towards stalking and being a know-it-all was sinking to record low levels. She fell asleep face down on her desk with towels on her floor and her computer still up with Skype up and running. She was not the last asleep, but her words were the last on that subject for the night. 

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Lindsey could not recall the last time she’d run to school, if it had ever happened at all. When the sun arose on Monday morning, she had not been pleased to be awoken, however, her dismay did not last long. The sweet intoxicating pleasure of drama was just around the bend and she could practically taste it already. She got ready at record breaking pace, and nearly forgot her lunch as she bolted from her house like there was a gas leak.

A sweaty and heaving mess arrived at school instead of Lindsey, yet not one person said a word. No freshman dared, no upperclassmen cared, and none of her friends were in too great shape either. Most mornings, children were outside and talking before entering the grim building, but this morning was not like most mornings. It was quiet and still, like a cemetery. People stood like statues and their breath froze in midair, despite the month. April was clinging onto winter like it’s sole intention was to give East high a hard time. 

Lindsey made her way past the still students and entered school early. She walked quickly and silently to her locker, staring dead ahead with such ferocity that it was giving her a headache. Not much had happened yet, but still her mind whirled into the depths of her memories, grasping at straws for some-any-explanation as to why Ryan would dump him. Her thoughts completely overwhelmed her to the point where she only began to see again once she slammed her locker shut with her books in hand. Come to think of it, she couldn't even remember opening her locker. 

The bell rang, and it was quite possible she was the only one who did not jump. A childhood of boys who found jump-scares hilarious had made her quite accustom to not reacting. Somehow she’d conditioned herself to not be moved my startling things. Startling in the manner of surprising, not startling in the manner of 'two perfectly happy people broke up out of no where and now they’re most certainly going to wreak havoc all over our happy school’ startling. Those ones still blindsided her.

She had another one of her little blackouts on the way to class, she must’ve, because the next thing she knew, she was in her seat and class had already begun. Josh was trying to get her attention, which she could see, but it took her ears a moment to catch up with her sudden consciousness. 

“Lindsey?” he snapped his fingers in front of her. “Good morning, sunshine. C’mon, we know that you poked around last night. Find anything good?” Josh asked. Lindsey found it a tad rude that Josh would be asking such a thing directly in front of Brendon, but when she turned, Brendon was no where to be found. Typical, she thought. 

“Dallon was the ultimate prick again, when is he not, and kept his trap shut. Apparently Brendon was crying though, and I’m really dying to know just what in he every loving hell happened. Guess I’m not the only one to come up with zilch though,” she sighed. Josh scratched his head awkwardly while Meagan stared holes into the table.

“He... cried? Brendon? Brendon cried?” she whisper shouted. Lindsey nodded, remember how she had been just as shocked as Meagan, the previous night. Josh put his face in his hands and looked as though he was waiting for the good Lord to take him away from that pitiful place. 

“Oh God,” Meagan hissed. “What if... what if Brendon loved him? Like, _loved him_ , loved him. And Ryan just went and... Oh God.” Lindsey put a hand on her back as she started to hyperventilate. Frank and Gerard’s big ordeal was one thing, but two in the same year was something else altogether. Plus, it definitely hurt a little bit extra to have had Brendon spend all that time pining on Ryan only to have it shattered not two months later, for undisclosed reasons. 

“Listen, Meagan, we don’t know anything for sure right now. It’s a sketchy story at best, so let’s not rush to any conclusions just yet, okay? Also-“

“Does anyone find it at all suspicious that both Pete and Brendon aren’t here this morning?” Bob piped up from a table not too far away. All their heads turned to face him. He shrugged at them optimistically, and Lindsey had to admit- when the two of them were together, good things never happened. 

“I wouldn’t worry about that, Bob. I know exactly where Pete is,” she clenched her jaw. Bob raised his eyebrows in an ‘oh yeah?’ way. “I can also tell you where Mikey is,” Meagan scowled at him. Bob’s grin dropped off his face and turned around miraculously quickly. As nauseating as it was to imagine her friend like that, it definitely took some weight off of Lindsey’s mind to know that nothing too shockingly awful was going to happen later on. The more she lingered on that thought, the more she disagreed with her optimism. Before she was absolutely sure something awful would still happen yet, Ms. Benoit focused her attention on the class. 

“Good morning, class! Today is going to be a work day, since grades are do soon and I’m a nice teacher. This means no talking, only work, and before you ask, no music either. Most importantly, no excuses. Get!” she smiled at the class, which turned into a flurry of papers and pencil shavings seconds later. 

Lindsey actually managed to get some of her work done during most of her class, which was shocking even to her. It was all well and good, and she had almost upped her final grade to an A- when guess who just so happened to walk in, late. The classroom door opened, a sound that made everyone look up instantaneously, only to be in the wake of a very sullen looking Brendon. 

“Good morning, Brendon. Please ta-“ Ms. Benoit paused. She was not only a good teacher, but a good person as well, and that encouraged her to do something more. She motioned for the class to go back to work, and walked over to him calmly. Lindsey watched the two talk for a few moments, scowling at the fact they were too far away for her to hear. It must’ve been an emotional conversation if it gave Ms. Benoit enough leeway to put a hand on his shoulder, Lindsey reasoned. She would’ve given a limb to know what was being said. 

She resolved her internal conflict and put on a happy face as Brendon waddled over to the table, trying not to look broken inside. Lindsey tried not to be a critic, but he wasn’t doing a very good job. He put on a half assed smile as he sat and pulled out his binder, instantly burring his nose in it before anyone can get out a question. There was no point in talking to him when he shut himself off. He was just too low. 

Lindsey decided to respect that. For about... fifteen minutes. When she completed the last missing assignment that was really probably at the bottom of a pile in her room, she looked up at Brendon, her patience thinning. Maybe if she could cut him off from the rest of the table and- no. Cornering was a tactic that only really scared people. She couldn’t do that. She weigher her nonexistent options and opted to finally just dive right in.

“Brendon?” He looked up at her expectantly. Meagan elbowed her out of Brendon’s view, signaling her nicely to _please shut the fuck up_. “I would say I’m sorry for what happened, but we-I don’t really know what happened. Fuck, that sounded way better in my head. Shit.” Brendon cracked a small smile at her unpreparedness and sat up a little. 

“It’s- it’s okay. I guess... I guess neither of us wanted to say anything because we didn’t want it to be a big deal like Gerard and Frank but...” Lindsey smiled at him pitifully.

“You should’ve known that wasn’t really ever an option, Brendon.”

“Yeah,” he chuckled. “Anyway we sort of- had an... argument. We both said some things we shouldn’t have and then he just... sort of blurted it out.” Brendon looked down at his work and sighed. Lindsey was not at all content to end the conversation there. She was getting her answers, damn it, and she was getting them right then.

“Blurted what ou-“

“Lindsey? This is quiet work time and you know that. Please refrain from verbally harassing your friends, please and thank you,” Ms. Benoit calmly croaked from across the room. She took another sip of her coffee without another word. Brendon was kind enough to turn back to Lindsey, and finish off his story regardless of his teacher’s warning. Despite how uninterested they pretended to be moments prior, both Meagan and Josh leaned in to hear the juicy details. Lindsey straight up rubbed her hands together. She finally got what she deserved. 

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Class ended and that signaled the end of Lindsey’s basking time. She skipped off to her next class to be the bearer of bad news, a position she oddly loved. Brendon knew he wasn’t going to be free of the torment until lunch when it would all have settled by then, but there was a look in his eye that no one caught that said maybe he wasn’t so annoyed by it after all. 

Brendon was escorted to his next class by Dallon, who’s purpose was to shoulder off the looks of pity and keep his mind as cheerful as it could get. That’s what friends are for, right? Oh, that and suckling your drama off your bones so they could start their own bout of gossip. That too. He walked like a shield, deflecting off all of the looks he got, until the both were safely enclosed in the classroom. Every time Dallon entered, he got small smile on his face at the thought of zip-typing Spencer to a chair, not that he would ever admit that to anyone. 

While the onlookers could be kept out by a firm word from their teacher, the looks could not. Even those who knew Brendon closely kept an easy eye on him during class, especially Dallon. Brendon pretended he didn’t notice the looks, the whispers, the glances. How Dallon kept protectively close to him at all times. He pretended he didn’t notice so that none of his friends would feel bad, because he knew that’s not what they intended to happen. 

There was never any intended harm in shielding a friend from the public eye, but it became a taxing experience when everyone said they wanted the best for you but never understood what the best was. All that care and compassion that was really just power in make up. Dallon was one, if not the only, person to understand this, even if it did take him a little while.

“Brendon,” Dallon began, as his teacher took a breath in his rant. “I’m sure you’ve been asked this many times already today, but I feel the need to ask this. Do you want to talk about what happened? I’m...” he put his hand on Brendon’s shoulder. “Here for you.”

Brendon put on a pitiful smile and shook his head. “Thank you, and no, you’re not the first. I’ve told the story but I... No one offered to listen to me, if that makes any sense. Maybe when Mr. Asshat here isn’t about to stroke I could tell you. P.E.?” Dallon sat, shocked. He hadn’t expected Brendon to agree to explaining to him, but furthermore, he was a tad upset he had to wait an entire hour when some people, probably Lindsey, already knew. 

Dallon spent most of science bitterly staring Brendon down from the corners of his eyes, and the only portion of time that he wasn’t doing that, he was making out with his boyfriend in the bathroom. He put the sudden urge on the situation at hand- he worried, and worry made him needy. All in all, it wasn’t the worst reaction he could’ve had, but then again he knew that he was treating himself like a trauma victim. 

Spencer pushed him lightly against the sink, a simple, gentle nudge. Dallon was nearly as spastic as Brendon at that point and nearly fell over all by himself. His hand flew back for an anchor, and the next thing he knew, the both of them were being sprayed with water. The two flew apart, Spencer laughing and Dallon yelping at every step he took. 

“Wow Dallon you sure got wet,” Spencer mused. Dallon scowled at him as he flipped off the water. His dark expression quickly faded and it became clear that what Dallon was really craving was not affection, but confirmation that everything would be okay. The sudden breakup of his friend was a brutal reminded how futile everything was, and to be bland, he was scared. 

Spencer put a hand to his cheek and pressed his lips against Dallon’s. 

“It’ll be okay, I hope. The two of them are weird and odd but I mean hey! It’s fine, we’re fine, my dick is certainly fine-“ Dallon cracked a smile and looked away shyly. Spencer bit his lip as he stepped forward, entering Dallon’s personal space. Dallon could feel his breath on his neck, the way his shirt brushed against his minutely exposed stomach, the look in his eyes when he swayed forward. 

“I’m glad,” Dallon murmured, almost against his lips. He, unlike most teenagers at their school, did not have sex on his mind. There was so much more to think about, topics such as the oncoming existential crisis that would be brought on when Brendon told him the nitty gritty. Spencer wasn’t exactly in the same mindset as Dallon, exclaiming loudly as Dallon left the bathroom without another word. His dick was not fine anymore. 

If Dallon hadn’t been so caught up in the suspense of the story, he may have actually given a shit about leaving Spencer high and dry like that. Unsurprisingly, that wasn’t the case. He took his seat next to Brendon and was ninety percent sure the teacher had not even noticed him leaving. That would go over well with his participation grade. 

It was a struggle not to patronize Brendon for details, but in the interest of their friendship and actually getting Brendon’s side of th story, he kept quiet. For the most part. Just as Dallon was sure he was about to explode with anticipation, the bell rang. He let out a long sigh that he hadn’t realized he’d been harboring and took to his feet. Brendon quickly followed him, dropping off their backpacks in an abandoned classroom and racing for the gym. It was a system they’d worked out sometime the previous year and it worked out a whole lot better than their lockers. 

Dallon was positive that he actually blacked out for that entire segment of time because the next thing he knew after leaving the class was Brendon snapping his fingers in front of his face. They were changed. In the gym. Dallon did not know or care why that had happened, which did make Brendon worry for his safety, but Brendon too was interested in telling his story yet again. 

Their teacher dismissed them to go play basketball, or as Brendon called it, sit under the bleachers and “chat”. That may have been the only time in recorded history that all Brendon did under their was talk to someone. Dallon eyed the bench suspiciously and opted to stand above Brendon like a scarecrow instead. He didn’t know or care to know what had gone down on those seats. Or who.

“Sorry to make you wait so long to tell you, but our senile frankenstein of a teacher was really all in today. You probably noticed- actually no, you probably did not. What’d you guys do? Hand job, blow-“

“Brendon we are not here to talk about my sex life,” Dallon spat hollowly. Brendon’s lip twitched up in a smirk as he looked at the taller kid.

“If you ever have one,” Brendon mumbled. Dallon sent him a glare, a glare made up solely of pure exasperation. “Fine, fine. I’ll tell you.” Dallon waited patiently for Brendon to go on, but he was struck by a slow moving breeze that seemed to wash Brendon’s cockiness off of his face. Without thinking, he sat down next to him and put a hand on his lower back. Dallon prayed his jeans wouldn’t be stuck to the bench when he was done there. 

“So... it started last night. He was already in a bad mood when he came over and I thought maybe I could _cheer him up_ , right? So he dropped his stuff down and sat on my bed with his head in his hands all sad, and I guess I never thought that maybe not all the worlds problems could be fixed by sex, although most of them can. Ryan went along with it for a little while, not long enough to, like, get into anything or whatever. But then he stood up and stared pacing and ranting to himself and it was sort of scary and weird to see him all worked up because he’s generally such a calm and collected person. I asked him what the problem was and he got all snarky like ‘you don’t really care’ and ‘why don’t you just find some chick who’s still willing to sleep with you’. It caught me really off guard, so I started shouting back before I even knew what I was saying, yelling stuff like ‘you’re just a prick who is obsessive and creepy’ and then I sort of... I said that he Stockholm Syndrome’d me and then he just lost it. He-“ Brendon was sniffling. “He said that he couldn’t put up with my needy ass and he wasted his time pining over me, because I was just a waste of time to him. I told him that the only reason I kissed him in the first place was to mess with Sarah and that I never wanted to be with him at all, so then I just- I told him to leave. And he did, but not before saying that he wished we’d never dated in the first place. I know that neither of us meant what we said, at least I- I hope he didn’t mean it. I didn’t. Mean it. Any of it.” Dallon put his arm around Brendon’s shoulders, too shocked to get out any words at all. His tongue felt like a pound and it was surely glued to the roof of his mouth at that point. Brendon was shaking like an earthquake and all of the sudden Dallon could hear the sobs. His back shook and he pursed his lips and wiped his nose, and Dallon felt completely awful for him. 

“Dal?” Brendon asked, slowly and quietly. Dallon nosed his ear and pulled him close. Brendon instantly accepted the hug and tried not to snot-weep on his friend’s shirt. 

“Please don’t be mean to Ryan. I know you wouldn’t because you’re not that sort of person, but I just- If you see someone taking what happened out on Ryan then please stop them. I’m just- I’m just a whore and Ryan didn’t deserve-“ Dallon sat straight up and pushed Brendon back by his shoulder, holding him squarely.

“How dare you say that in a bad way. You like sex, so what? So does almost everyone. That’s not an issue and there are way worse things you could be calling yourself, not that any of them would be true, Brendon.” Brendon’s lip quivered as he tried to blink the remaining tears from his eyes. There was a beat of silence before Brendon went back into it.

“Annoying, bitchy, selfish, bossy, irresponsible, inept, vain, a _mistake_ -“ Brendon hyperventilated. 

“Brendon- No! Stop it!” Dallon cut him off. “Don’t talk like that. You may be some of those things sometimes, but aren’t we all? Besides, since when do those things give you cause to say that shit to a person? They don’t. He’s crazy, but he’s always been a little bit crazy.” Brendon looked away, still being proper up like a puppet by Dallon. He let Brendon down slowly and he collapsed like a pile of pudding. 

“Hey...” Dallon whispered, pulling him again close to his chest. “You’re a great guy, B. I don’t know why Ryan said all those things-“

“Because they’re true.”

“Sh, no, shut the fuck up. They’re not at all true, and by him acting out on you like that, it makes him the bastard out of the two of you. And you’re right. I may be his friend but I feel no shame in saying that yeah, Ryan’s pretty much a prick. And you’re a slut. And I’m the mormon friend. And Pete’s the designated asshole. And Lindsey- well, we’re just all afraid of Lindsey. But you see where I’m going with this, what I mean? It’s not just you that has problems, so don’t treat it like it’s your fault.” Dallon took Brendon’s tear streaked face in his hands and smiled at him in that guileless way that only Dallon can. Brendon tried to smile back, but he still needed time, reasoned Dallon, to get there. He would bounce back, just like Brendon does. 

“Did Ryan really say ass?” Dallon whispered. Brendon snorted and looked down, trying his very best to suppress his laughter. 

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ 

The two boys walked to lunch together, grabbed their bags together, shaded each other from the brooding looks in the hallways. Dallon was on edge for the oncoming storm that was going to take place in the cafeteria. There was no doubt that both boys would have to be in the same room, if even just for a minute, to decide who would eat somewhere else and who got to stay. He knew no words would be exchanged, only a look before one of the disappears. Dallon was wholeheartedly prepared to follow Brendon to whatever corner of the school he chose if he was the one to leave, but something told him it wouldn’t be Brendon. 

Brendon did not know what form of snit his friends had thrown in anticipation of his arrival, being that he was usually the last one their due to P.E., but whatever figment of an idea he had, it was nothing in comparison of what he was presented with. When the two turned the corner into the cafeteria, there was one thing to be said for the general grayness of the room. It was not quite as gray. There were four bring orange traffic cones by each corner of Brendon’s table, connected by yellow caution tape. There was clearly no confusion as to why it was cautioned, because kids were still eating at that table. Meagan was making dead-ass eye contact with Brendon before he even entered the room. The next thing he noticed, besides how empty the cafeteria was, was one singular person, sitting about three tables behind Brendon’s table, with a pair of what looked like military issued binoculars. 

Pete also had a notepad, tape recorder, and pepper spray. 

It took Dallon a moment to notice Pete, but the moment he did, he nearly dive bombed him. Brendon took his seat delicately, whilst Dallon’s rant flamed on in the background. Every once and a while Dallon would let out a swear and Brendon would have to put int physical effort not to smile. Brendon’s friends weren’t being completely awful yet, and the sheer possibility that they held up this long was astonishing. Brendon pulled out his sandwich and stared at it for an unsettling amount of time before finally taking a bite. Dallon sat down next to him like a body guard, with his lunch in hand. If Dallon pulled a gun out of the paper bag, no one would be surprised. This recent event had reminded everyone how protective Dallon was of his friends, Brendon especially. No one knew why he put forth so much effort for Brendon, despite the fact he was just generally a good person. Pete was ninety-nine percent sure they screwed. 

As lunch really went into full swing, silence included, it became apparent how many people were not there. Brendon couldn’t put forth the effort to check, but Dallon sure could. He counted Ryan, unsurprisingly, and Patrick, Hayley, Ray, Tyler, and even Jon was MIA. Dallon found that suspicious. That was nearly a third of their group, or so it seemed due to the lack of conversation. While Brendon couldn’t be bothered to address it, he could let it bother him all together. And it sure did. 

“So...Brendon...” Frank piped up. Dallon began to glare at his salad. He was ready. “What’s it like to be a rip off?” Brendon had expected shit from them immediately, but not like that. It caught both him and Dallon as well as the rest of the table off guard, and from the background, there was the hissing of pepper spray into the air. If only he had a foghorn, Brendon thought bitterly. 

“I- I don’t-“

“Come on, bud, it’ll be okay. Just get some drag on and he’ll be back in a flash. It worked on Gerard, since you’re following in our footsteps. Trust me, your parents know best,” Frank swooned. Lindsey dropped her fork and turned to glare at Frank like he lit another kid on fire. 

”You can borrow some of my make up, if you want,” Gerard said, barely over a whisper, like if he didn’t say it that loud it wouldn’t be rude. That almost did sound genuinely kind, thought Dallon, who was a second away from going nuke mode. Brendon swallowed hard and looked back down at his lunch, feeling the color drain from his face. He hadn’t been like that to Frank when they broke up... Had he? Frank was on the verge of going low again, when thank god, someone broke the awkward silence. Someone who wasn’t out to get Brendon, if that was at all possible. 

“Where’s Pete?” Mikey asked, hands in pockets and beanie covering a larger portion of his face the recommended. Spencer pointed to the table a few meters back where Pete had his station set up. Mikey turned and Pete dove under the table, pulling a camo blanket over himself. Mikey sighed and threw a bag of something orange on the table.

“What a fucking drama queen,” Mikey groaned. “He wanted these. Now,” he took his seat bitterly. “I know why. Sorry, Brendon.” Brendon accepted his apology with a nod and rolled his neck. Mikey bit his lip like he was in agony, staring Brendon and his sad sandwich down until he picked an answer to his mute predicament. Brendon only then noticed Mikey’s ashamed look. 

“And this.” He set a water bottle on the table that was clear, empty, and stuck with a post-it. At the sight of the water bottle, Pete practically flew over to their table, picking up all of his supplies and slam dunking himself onto the bench. He tossed the bag of orange to Spencer, who instantly looked like he felt bad for catching it, and snatched up the water bottle before Lindsey could get her hands on it. 

“Perfect!” he mumbled, looking it over. Lindsey craned her neck for a look as Spencer tossed the bag of orange to Dallon. He too caught it and looked a tad abashed. Brendon could then see it was filled with ear plugs. Pete thrust his arm out, water bottle included, and handed it to Frank. What happened next only made Brendon’s day that much weirder. He looked at the bottle, eyes moving as he read the words on the post-it, and then cracked a smirk as he looked up at Brendon. And did not look away. Brendon and Frank sat there, staring at each other, for around two minutes until he passed the bottle on to Gerard. Gerard then proceeded to the exact same. Two more minutes of odd, bewitched silence fell, and then Gerard proceeded to hand the bottle to Spencer. Brendon flared up and grabbed it before any more uncomfortableness could ensue. 

The post-it had absolutely no directions, in fact, it only had a few words on it. It read, 'our collective tears’, and that was all. Brendon’s friends got bitchier by the day, and he was not a fan of it. But, for the sake of his raw emotions, he sighed and sat back down. Ignoring all concerned and confused looks from Dallon, he handed the bottle back to Spencer, who then took his turn. As if his day could get less unsettling, there was the click of a door opening and then the broadest display of teenage awe and silence Brendon had ever seen in his life. It didn’t take a master-mind to figure out why.

“Sorry I’m so late guys, a teacher needed to-“ Ryan paused. “Sorry, _needs_ me to get some make up work so I don’t fail this semester. See you guys in class later.” He tried to walk away without another word, but that never really was an option. 

“Ryan!” Frank called out. Ryan turned as little as physically possible. He knew that wasn’t going to end well- with Frank, things rarely did. “Wasn’t it just like... two days ago that you said you had all A’s? Dude what the hell did you do to get your grades down so fast? Unless it’s not a teacher you’re going to see.” Frank fucking winked. Ryan blinked once and left without a moment’s hesitation. 

Brendon looked ready to disappear once and for all. After that, the group seemed to calm down. Frank and Gerard amused themselves privately, while Dallon and Spencer actively tried to engage Brendon in a conversation that would in any way interest him. Brendon finally looked up once Dallon began to talk about the summer, something Brendon was still looking forward to, despite everything. He looked up, and saw Josh turning bright red from holding in either laughter or tears. He wasn’t holding that blasted bottle, so Brendon took a wild stab and picked laughter. There was a smash.

From under the table. Pete got quite pissy when everyone checked to make sure it wasn’t him. He brought it upon himself, quite frankly. 

Josh, whom Brendon still had his eyes on, jolted and then there was a screech. Again, from under the table. No one needed to look under the table because a second later, a head popped out next to Josh. Tyler scrambled up to his seat, leaving the rest of the table in mute shock and with a billion questions that no one should repeat in a church. Brendon nearly fell out of his chair. 

“I don’t-“

“How long has he-“

“That’s kinky-“

It took Tyler a few seconds to catch onto what they’re going for. His eyes got all wide and he flung his arms out like he was trying to shield himself from their accusations, and he didn’t get out an excuse in time for Mikey to completely ditch altogether. He’d had enough. Pete was almost on the floor laughing, grabbing his stomach with tears pouring out of his eyes. Brendon wasn’t far behind, smiling for the first time during lunch. 

“No! All of you stop! I wasn’t under there for anything like that! You’re all pervs, first off, and secondly I was under there so I could hear the drama but not have to witness it with my own two eyes. I don’t need the angsty or lusty looks! I don’t want my eyes burned out of my skull, thank you very much!” Tyler yelped. He closed his mouth firmly after realizing what he’d said. Brendon looked away and swallowed the lump in his throat. 

“Oh, Brendon, I’m sorry-“ Brendon waved him off, giving him some half assed “it’s alright” maneuver that only made Tyler feel worse. the ice age of awkward silence began, or as Dallon liked to call it, the Great Depression. It took a strangely long amount of time for anyone to find some way to counter-act the unhappiness in the atmosphere. 

“Well, hey. Just because Brendon can’t get some, doesn’t mean Tyler shouldn’t,” Pete chuckled. No one said anything. 

“He probably could get some, knowing Brendon,” Frank piped up. Dallon gave him one singular warning look. “I mean, hey. No one ever marries the whore.” That was the last straw. Everyone lost it. 

“FRANK!” Gerard shrieked.

“You better step the fuck back, asshole,” Dallon barked.

“Woah, dude,” Pete muttered, eyes wide as he stared anywhere but Frank or Brendon. Probably the worst part for Brendon was how Frank didn’t even realize he’d said anything wrong until he caught Gerard’s very angry glare. He straightened up, dropping the smile as fast as he could, and burying his nose back in his lunch as though nothing had ever happened. Gerard scoffed at him and shoved him. Physically shoved him. That caught Brendon’s attention. Frank looked back at Gerard in confusion, but there were no words.

“Go. Get out. Now!” Gerard shouted, pointing at the door. Frank held the eye contact for a moment, just to see if Gerard would ease up, but there was no such luck. He grabbed his back pack and stood up, pausing only once apologize to Brendon and glare at Gerard. Then he walked out of the cafeteria and left everyone alone in deep and depressing silence, yet again. Brendon began to notice the amount of silence and the weight of knowing it was entirely his fault settled on his shoulders. He didn’t like it.

Thank god for Lindsey Ballato.

“Brendon...” she whispered. “Is that why he broke up with you?” No one shouted at Lindsey the way they all went after Frank but there was something in the quiet that followed her question that reeked of fear and diluted loathing. Brendon swallowed his insecurities and looked her in the eyes. She gave him a sad smile, like she was trying to appeal to his compassion for her side. He shrugged at her and went back to his lunch, blocking out as much as he could. But the clock on the wall still echoed in his brain, the unhappiness in the air still got to him, the eyes on him still hurt. He just couldn’t make it all go away, no matter how much he wished for it. 

“Because I really want to- I think we all want to try to help. To make you feel better. There’s no way of saying this without me sounding like the counselor but if there’s something you want to say, something that might help clear it all up, then you can say it. We won’t judge, Bren. We just want to help,” Lindsey intoned. Brendon had put his head down somewhere in the middle of her mini-speech. 

“Yeah, there is something you guys can do for me, okay?” he looked up at her, tear stained once again. Lindsey looked taken aback and Brendon could _see_ the regret blossom on her face. “You can all do your part my leaving me alone. I don’t want your sympathy, I don’t want a war, no one needs to take sides for me. Not for the whore, alright? Just let me be,” he mewled. Gerard and Pete made eye contact for a second and quickly looked away, pained. 

“Brendon?” a new voice asked, from right behind him. He didn’t need to looks on his friend’s faces to distinguish who was behind him. He didn’t turn to face her completely, only tilted his head so she would know he was listening. “I uh... I wanted to know if you wanted me to walk you to your next class. I know Dallon isn’t in it and he’s kinda been, like, your protector today, right? I know I’m not as good, but I want to offer it to you. Sorry, I’m probably just being numb, uh-“

Brendon turned and stood up, hiking up his backpack. “Actually, Sarah, I’d like that. Thank you.” The bell rang as if on cue, and everyone at the table was gone so fast that the track team was envious. All except for Dallon, who picked up his things slowly, watching Brendon and Sarah closely. Sarah smiled at Brendon and waved to Dallon, as the two disappeared down the hallway. He hadn’t expected Brendon to actually go with her, and he stopped what he was doing to think. But his brain was fried and he was tired, and a little sad too, and he had probably ought to apologize to Frank. 

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Brendon and Sarah walked calmly through the building, in quiet but mutual appreciation of each other’s company. Sure, there were things to talk about, but there were so many people to talk about things with that it was nice to have someone just as willing to be quiet with you. Especially after everything they’d been through. They walked past Ryan’s locker, abandoned, and Brendon watched as though time went still. Sarah coughed absentmindedly and pulled Brendon out of it in time to not crash into some Freshman. 

The two approached Brendon’s class and Sarah finally brought up what everyone probably expected them to. 

“I was actually into you, you know that right? Before prom? It wasn’t just some whole sham. And I’ll admit- it was pretty cruel. But more importantly, I think I should admit that I am sorry for what I did. I’m no begging for forgiveness or asking to get back together, I just wanted you to know that I’m not a completely awful person.”

“Oh, so this is about you clearing your name?” Brendon asked. Sarah scoffed and shoved him lightly.

“You’re a jerk, Brendon.” But she was smiling, and so was he. She looked over to the clock and back to him. There was a mutual sending of apologies that neither could really explain in words. Just a jumble of smiles and eyebrow raises that said just enough. 

“See you later?” she asked.

“You wish,” Brendon joked, striking a pose. 

“Ugh, you paint me as a siren, Brendon. I’m more of a werewolf, you know that!”

“Later, Jacob!” Brendon laughed as he opened the classroom door. 

“See ya, Edward!”

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Lindsey could not describe the way she thought her day went for the life of her, and what was to be considered ‘her day’ wasn’t even over yet. She sat in the midst of advisory, building something out of glue (lots of it) and paper (certainly not enough). She’d lost all focus after she’d seen Brendon pass by the classroom on his way to the bathroom, presumably. For some reason, she just couldn’t shake it. It wasn’t that he never used the bathroom during advisory, or that there was something obviously off about his appearance or facial expression, it was all well and good. Well, it wasn’t, but that was besides the point.

Or was it? Lindsey wondered. 

Her hand flew into the air so quickly she nearly smacked her teacher in the face.

“Yes, Lindsey?” he asked, taking a step back from her. She hadn’t realized he’d left his desk. She’d always suspected him of having teleportation. 

“May I use the bathroom, please?” she asked. He gave her a look that said ‘you should’ve gone during passing period’, but allowed her to leave anyway. She snatched up the pass and bolted from the classroom. She was so caught up with thinking about how Brendon could’ve been suspicious, that she nearly didn’t notice as he passed her in the hallway. He didn’t smile, which stung, but what irked her more was how she still could not figure out what got her in such a fluster.  
She marched herself to the boys bathroom because there had got to be some damn reason she was in such a kerfuffle. She passed the girls bathroom door and was nearing the boys door when someone walked out. She flung herself out of the way and hid just around the corner until the kid walked on. She held her breath very cautiously until his footsteps faded and she was alone in the halls once again. Then she froze. 

Sure, what she’d just witnessed could’ve just been a coincidence, but with Brendon it never was. She’d seen him leave that bathroom, so he had to be in the mix somehow, which lead to some very interesting conclusions. Plus, she knew for a fact that Ryan never went to the bathroom during advisory. He liked the company too much. That accumulation of information was cause for concern for her.

She walked back to class giggling maniacally, and had to stall herself outside of the class as to avoid raising any suspicion from either her classmates who already knew she was in too deep with this newest development, or her teacher who didn’t trust her as far as he could throw her. She only barely managed to deadpan before walking back in. 

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The final bell rang and Lindsey was not just the first out of her class, but the first out of the school. The first in the parking lot, the first in her car, and definitely the first angrily blasting music from her iPod while loading up Skype and trying to reverse all at once. She was a fucking mess and she knew exactly what to do about it. 

“I have a reputation to uphold,” she muttered to herself as she pulled out of the parking lot at a measly twenty miles per hour. “I’m supposed to bring my fair share of drama to the table, to the club! And I haven’t done jack shit in months- _months!_ This is it, girl, this is your big break! Not that you need one because you’re a strong independent woman, but you’d better get the good stuff on this or so help me God,” she mumbled as she drove as fast as legal towards her house. 

“And yeah, it could be rude to call him out like that, but you already made him cry once today so what’s the harm right? Jesus, you sound like Darth Vader, Lindsey. He was pretty cool, gotta admit. Still, you need this, you deserve this, it’s your right! Freedom of speech, eh? Well then...” her internal monologue only got weirder and weirder as she slowly forgot she was speaking out loud. She rambled off everything that came to her mind, just to keep her from sitting and sulking with her thoughts. Her house wasn’t too far away but her impatient tendencies made it seem like nine years before she finally pulled in the drive way and bolted into her house, Skype still up and running.

Her parents weren’t home, which meant no chores yet, not need to complete homework, no ‘hello’s’ and ‘yeah sure I don’t mind telling you every aspect of my day now will you please let me gripe in peace?’. Her backpack landed somewhere on the stairs, she wasn’t quite sure where, but that didn’t matter. She kicked her door shut with her steel toed boots, which shook the whole house, and flopped down onto her bed, just in time for all of her other friends to get their lazy asses onto Skype with her. 

“You’re gonna blow this bitch wide open,” she said to herself as she began to type out her strange happening from earlier that day. Her fingers were on fire, her eyes shifting from one side of the screen to the other like a type-writer, her brain a pile of mush and rage and teenage hormones. Some other people started off some wildly off-topic banter that she paid no attention to. She was a piece of electricity herself, working to please no one, but working nonetheless. She had a purpose and damn it, she would fulfill it. 

Her reread her paragraph before sending it, her tale of her advisory event, her theories, everything. The more she read it, the more she believed in it. Her finger hovered over send, when she got a notification. **Brendon posted.** Seconds later. **Ryan Posted**

Coincidences, she grumbled internally as she clicked on the notification spitefully. It could’ve housed vital information, she told herself. The posts were videos, luckily not the same videos. The notification had taken her to Ryan’s video, and she had never felt anticipation like that before. Lindsey’s breath hitched as she turned up the sound and watched the scene unravel in front of her.

“Hey guys!” Brendon piped up in his average cheery voice. Lindsey cocked her head in confusion. “So I know that today was rough for all of us, no one had it easy today, and I just want to say some things that I personally will make everyone feel more hopeful going forward. I haven’t had the best day but I’m still looking forward to tomorrow and the days after that because of two words said to me so many times that I’m going to pass on to you, in hopes that it’ll bring you the same ‘joy’-“ Brendon put up finger quotes. “-that it has brought me in the past. Here goes:”

Lindsey held her breath and looked away in fear. Her eyes laid upon her calendar which helped her feel no better at all. But wait. She looked at the date and-

“April fools!” Brendon shrieked. Lindsey was ready to scream. Ryan entered the video, laughing and smiling and all over Brendon as he usually was. 

“Check out Brendon’s video for our sex tape!” And the video began to replay. Lindsey rolled onto her back, fuming. There hadn’t been a day in her life that had made her go through this many emotions and of that she was glad. She wasn’t sure that she, queen of being tough, could take another day like that one. It was simply too much. 

After another minute of sulking, she returned to Skype, and sent her text in the off chance that anyone would read it before the watched the video and she would still get some credit. It didn’t matter anymore though, not to her. All that time was wasted over worrying about Brendon and whether she’d gone too far at lunch, or just what the fuck was up in general. It both infatuated and bothered her immensely that she could never pinpoint Brendon nearly as good as he could pinpoint her. With nothing better to do, she pulled Instagram and went to Brendon’s video.

Just to make sure it wasn’t _really_ a sex tape. You never know with Brendon.


End file.
